


The Ghost in Apartment 217

by rosydoky



Series: svt oneshots [4]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Friends, Epilogue, Fluff, Friendship, Ghosts, Light Angst, M/M, Requited Love, This is basically platonic, ah can finally include that tag, feels good!, ghost woozi, i guess idk its a lil sad! ill admit, mingyu is ANNOYED, mostly crack tho idk, the answer is no, will i ever write anything that doesn't include soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-05-21 17:38:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14919893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosydoky/pseuds/rosydoky
Summary: Mingyu found the perfect apartment, well except for the fact that it’s haunted by a really annoying ghost.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> u kno. Sometimes I get ideas  
> twitter @boolesbian

Mingyu’s new apartment was great, perfect even.

It was just big enough for him and his copious amount of art supplies, a small studio located in the central part of Seoul. His tiny home sandwiched between those of four of his closest friends, the perfect area, size, and price for a college student. He was more than content, he was ecstatic, and he wondered how he got so lucky every day up until his first night sleeping there.

He reasoned with himself at first, the apartment complex wasn’t exactly new, there were people living above him, it was windy in the city fairly often. There were logical explanations for all the noises he heard in his bare apartment. He told himself for weeks that nothing was out of the ordinary, because it would be foolish to assume it was anything other than a bit of wind.

But then his favorite vase got knocked off his bedside table, and there was no logical explanation because he didn’t even have his windows open.

So without logic that left him with days of overthinking, was he going crazy? Was there some weird electromagnetic field under his apartment? Did he have a ghost?

He didn’t want to tell his friends at first, positive that Wonwoo would laugh at him while Seungkwan and Soonyoung would refuse to come visit him ever again, so he kept it to himself, spending the late hours of the night unable to sleep, clicking through articles on google.

He still hadn’t seen an apparition, just noticed the strange things happening in what was supposed to be his perfect home. Clothing items gone missing, oil paints spilled on carpet (so much for getting his deposit back), cabinet doors opening in the dead of night. Whatever was haunting him was more annoying than malicious, but that didn’t make him anymore comfortable.

He finally told Vernon one day over coffee.

He just stared at him at first, his eyes wide and unblinking as he thought of the right words to say.

“Are you sure it’s not just the wind?” he finally let out, still staring at Mingyu in wonder.

Mingyu frowned, feeling annoyed, “I wouldn’t be telling you this unless I was completely, utterly, 100% sure it’s not just the wind. There’s something in my apartment.”

Vernon smirked, “a roommate, you should get it to pay rent.”

Mingyu groaned, “you’re no help. What should I do?”

 

And that’s how Mingyu ended up on the floor of his apartment with Vernon and Jun, a ouija board sitting between the three of them, the only source of light being a few of his scented candles.

“Are you sure about this,” he asked nervously, glancing at Jun, “won’t this invite demons in or something?”

Jun chuckled quietly, shaking his head, “not if we follow the rules and remain respectful. Just follow my lead.”

Vernon took a quiet swig of his beer, leaning forward and joining Jun’s fingers on the planchette, looking at Mingyu with a glance that said, “ _your turn_.”

Mingyu sighed, deciding that being haunted by a million demons would somehow be better than the daily annoyance he was living with now, finally joining the other two fingers on the board.

Jun smiled easily, nodding at the two of them before clearing his throat and announcing them to the empty room. Suddenly, Mingyu felt silly more than anything, wondering if this was even worth his time. He wasn’t sure he even believed in all this ghost stuff yet, let alone being able to communicate with them.

“Is anyone with us,” Jun said quietly, his voice stable and concentrated.

There was a beat of silence, the three of them completely still as they stared intently at the board. Finally, after what seemed like years, the planchette moved, achingly slow as if to tease Mingyu further. It finally landed on “yes” and Mingyu nearly groaned in annoyance.

Jun shot him a glance, “be respectful,” he murmured before looking back at the board.

“I’m trying, but this thing has been getting on my last nerve,” Mingyu grumbled, “it’s hidden my favorite pair of socks!”

Jun rolled his eyes, ignoring Mingyu to ask yet another question, “what’s your name?”

The room quieted again as the planchette began to move, this time a bit quicker as it worked it’s way across the board.

“W-O-O-Z-I,” Vernon announced, looking pale.

“What kind of name is that,” Mingyu said under his breath, earning another piercing glance from Jun.

“Woozi,” Jun said, sounding extra polite, “what is that you want from Mingyu?”

A long pause situated across the room as they stared expectantly, and Mingyu almost gave up then. He knew whoever this “Woozi” was, was just trying to get on his nerves, and he was not having it.

As if the spirit could read his mind, the planchette moved at record speed across the board, quickly spelling out the word, “BORED.”

“It’s bored?” Mingyu asked, sounding exasperated, “I’ll turn the TV on for you then, leave out my laptop. Why do you have to mess with me?”

He hadn’t even realized he asked a question before the planchette started moving once again, quickly spelling out, “ITS FUN.”

“Okay, I’m done with this,” Mingyu sighed, his blood boiling, “can you please leave me alone? Surely there’s some fun stuff happening in the spirit world?”

He half expected the planchette to start gliding across the board again, but was instead met with a stillness he had never experienced. He could hear Vernon’s uneven breathing next to him, and just as he looked up to see Jun’s confused face, all of the candles around them burnt out.

“Shit,” Jun cursed, “you pissed it off.”

“I did not sign up for this,” Vernon whined, “Seungkwan is going to _kill_ me if I die.”

“God, will you guys shut up,” an unfamiliar voice said from across the room, barely above a whisper, “you ask so many questions.”

“Who are you?” Mingyu shouted, standing up from his position on the floor, “I take kickboxing lessons, I’m a force to be reckoned with!”

“I’m your ghost, dummy,” the voice sighed, and suddenly the transparent figure of a young man approached him, seemingly floating across his apartment, “you were asking too many questions, and quite frankly all that spelling is exhausting.”

Mingyu stood in stunned silence, wondering if this was all a dream, maybe a hallucination from spending too much time breathing in the scent of paint.

“Before you ask, no this isn’t a dream,” Woozi explained, pacing across Mingyu’s apartment, “also are your friends okay?”

Mingyu looked down, he had nearly forgotten Jun and Vernon were there. Vernon was now gripping onto Jun like a lifeboat, nearly as pale as the ghost standing in front of them.

“They’re fine,” Mingyu hissed, “now please explain to me why exactly you’re tormenting me.”

Woozi shrugged, “I told you, I’m bored. There’s not much to do on my side, my friends are boring, and you’re an easy target. Have you ever seen the face you make when you’re annoyed? Priceless.”

“You have ghost friends?” Vernon stuttered, somehow choking out a few words.

“Of course I have ghost friends,” Woozi snorted, “I’ve been dead for thousands of years, you have to pass time somehow. They get old really quick though, and it’s fun to play with someone who’s still pumping blood and what not.”

Mingyu blushed wildly, placing a hand on his hip, trying to sound assertive as he pointed a stern finger at Woozi, “well, you’ve had your fun, now leave me alone! This is my apartment now, and I would really like to enjoy it!”

“I’m hurt,” Woozi said, placing his hand against his transparent chest, “I thought we had a good thing going, Mingyu.”

“How do you know my name?” Mingyu asked, blanching.

“You’ve been living here for months, I see and hear everything, Gyu,” Woozi winked, “I also know that those two are called Vernon and Jun, hi guys.”

Vernon stared in silence as Jun answered with a small smile and a kind wave.

“Don’t interact with him,” Mingyu groaned at Jun, “you’ll only encourage him to stay longer.”

“There’s no getting rid of me now,” Woozi smiled, “you’ve summoned me and now you’re stuck with me, deal with it.”

Mingyu let out a loud laugh, shaking his head vigorously, “yeah, no way. Vernon, Jun, thanks for coming, but please see yourselves out. I have some googling to do.”

 

“It’s useless, you know,” Woozi said, draping his weird ghosty body over the back of Mingyu’s desk chair, somehow leaning his head on Mingyu’s shoulder as he watched him work at the computer.

“There’s bound to be something,” Mingyu mumbled, clicking on yet another article from some sketchy website he found on google.

Woozi hummed, “the ancient magic necessary to get rid of me is unattainable to someone like you, you’d have to be related to someone with _powers_ , Mingyu. Give it a rest, a little bunch of sage isn’t going to get rid of me.”

“Well I can try,” Mingyu sighed, adding five bundles of sage to his Amazon cart before spinning around to look at Woozi with an angry eye.

“You know,” he said carefully, “if you’d just leave me alone, we wouldn’t have to do this. I don’t want to like, hurt you or anything, but I also would rather live on my own. I didn’t sign up for a roommate.”

Woozi smiled brightly, “oh, my dear Mingyu, thank you for caring about my delicate, undead vessel, but you, a mere mortal, can do nothing to hurt me. Although, your words do cut into me like knives, and I’d thoroughly enjoy being friends rather than have you nag me all the time-”

“We will never be friends,” Mingyu spat, turning to look at his computer again, plugging in his earbuds to drown out the annoying voice of the pest that was taking over his apartment.

 

Mingyu lit his last bundle of sage, sighing as he repeated the words of some spell he found online for the eighteenth time, spreading the musty smoke in the shape of a cross.

Woozi just laughed at him, once again, for the eighteenth time.

“Please,” Mingyu whined, “please work.”

“It won’t” Woozi sang, “you’re not getting rid of me, kid. I suggest you just come to terms with it now.”

“Never,” Mingyu pouted, putting the stub of sage in the ashtray sitting on his coffee table, “why here anyways? Can’t you travel somewhere else, bug another innocent bystander?”

Woozi shook his head, “In this world I’m confined to this space, I died here, y’know?”

“God,” Mingyu sighed, “way to lighten the mood.”

Woozi shrugged, “I’m not fussed by it, it happened countless years ago. I’m over it, I guess. Everyone died young when I was living.”

Mingyu frowned, “still sucks… isn’t there a way for you to like, move on or something?”

“I could,” Woozi said carefully, “if I wanted to, but I just don’t. Most people do, but I’m just not ready for that kind of permanence,” he frowned, showing the first emotion other than deviance that Mingyu had seen, “I died young, I’m still young, I want to at least pretend to be living for a little longer. Experience the things I never got to experience. Plus the world is just so interesting now, how can I not stick around?”

Mingyu hummed, feeling a tinge of guilt tug at his heart, maybe he was being a bit too hard on the guy. He did seem rather lost, and more than anything, extremely bored and in need of a friend, and Mingyu was never one to turn down someone’s friendship.

He sighed, looking at the ghost in front of him carefully, and he swore he could see a hint of nervousness in the back of Woozi’s eyes.

“Maybe,” he hesitated, “you can stay… but only for a bit, because then you need to move on. I’ll show you what it’s like to be a stupid young adult, and then you can get going to where you need to be.”

Woozi’s smiled grew, dimples forming at the edges of his mouth.

 

“So we’re just hanging out with a ghost now,” Seungkwan said, his voice monotone as he stood at the entrance of Mingyu’s apartment, leaking with hesitance.

“He’s cool,” Mingyu explained, “and he has a lot of interesting stories! He just wants to experience young adult life before he moves on,” Mingyu pouted, giving Seungkwan puppy dog eyes, “he just needs some friends, Kwannie.”

“Oh my God,” Seungkwan whispered, “I can’t believe I’m doing this, you owe me,”

Mingyu nodded excitedly, stepping to the side to let Seungkwan and Vernon into his apartment, fiddling with his fingers nervously. Vernon had already met Woozi, but only for a few scary minutes, and now all his friends were coming over to hang out with him. Because _that_ was normal now, hanging out with a ghost.

Wonwoo, Soonyoung, and Jun came next, Jun entering the apartment a bit too excited, Wonwoo practically having to drag Soonyoung in by the ear.

Woozi floated nervously over his seat on Mingyu’s worn couch, his smile tight and unsure as Mingyu’s friends flooded into the living room.

Once they were all situated, Mingyu cleared his throat, gathering the attention of the room.

“Everyone,” he said slowly, “this is Woozi, he’s my ghost.”

“Hey,” Woozi said, waving shyly at the group, “this may come as a surprise but I’m actually not keen on attention, I kinda just want to observe or something.”

“You? Not wanting to be the center of attention?” Mingyu asked, raising an eyebrow.

Woozi shrugged, and if he wasn’t dead, Mingyu thought he might blush.

“Okay, cool,” Jun said, grabbing the remote from the coffee table, “now let’s watch this movie.”

 

The night went better than expected, somehow Woozi fell into their group quite easily, despite him being dead and what not. Surprisingly enough, he got along exceptionally well with Seungkwan, the two of them bonding over music and their distaste for some of Mingyu’s fashion choices.

“Thanks,” Woozi said quietly, once everyone had left for the night, “I mean it.”

Mingyu smiled, “no problem, I’m glad you had a good time. They really liked you.”

Woozi let out a nervous laugh, “well, I’m glad. They actually remind me a lot of my old friends,” he hesitated, “I do miss them, they’ve all moved on now.”

Mingyu tilted his head, examining Woozi carefully, “I thought you said they were just boring?”

Woozi smiled, pain hiding behind his eyes, “maybe they were boring, or maybe I was just jealous because they were ready to move on, and I’m not.”

Mingyu never wished he could hug a ghost more than he did in that moment.

 

It was Fall when Woozi first mentioned he might be ready to leave.

After months of spending evenings together watching bad anime and listening to music, weekends spent with their friend group as he watched them drink and play video games, he said he was ready to leave.

Mingyu couldn’t help but be a bit selfish, he didn’t want him to go.

“My birthday is soon,” Woozi said wistfully, floating on his back in the middle of Mingyu’s living room, “I think that would be a nice day to go.”

Mingyu’s eye twitched at the thought of him leaving, but he didn’t let him see that.

“What do you even have to do?” he asked, hoping his voice didn’t betray his true feelings too much.

Woozi shrugged, “I actually don’t know, once you decide it kinda just happens, I guess? There isn’t exactly an instruction manual on how to get to the afterlife, Gyu.”

Mingyu hummed, biting his lip.

“You’re not saying something,” Woozi frowned, sitting up so he was floating in a cross legged position.

“I just,” Mingyu sighed, “this is selfish, and I know a few months ago I was begging you to leave, but now I guess… I’m going to miss you a lot? And I was wondering if there’s anyway we can, you know, meet again?”

Woozi smiled slyly, “I know I’m irresistible, but you really fell for me that quickly?”

Mingyu rolled his eyes, “it’s not like that, but I just really like you, and I don’t want you out of my life or something. I’ll live on, this isn’t Romeo and Juliet, but it still sucks.”

Woozi nodded, a slight frown on his face, “we’ll meet again,” he hesitated, “and I like you a lot too, of course. You’ve given me everything I always wanted, and I’ll never be able to thank you enough for that. But at some point the ghost inside your apartment is going to start holding you back,” he smiled sadly, a transparent, black teardrop dripping from his eyes.

“This sucks,” Mingyu groaned, “I want you to go live your dope ass life in the next plane of existence or whatever, but this still sucks.”

Woozi nodded, “yeah, it does.”

“Just,” Mingyu started, averting his gaze from the ghost that had become his best friend, “promise you won’t forget me when you move on, and I promise won’t keep you waiting after I die. No ghosting for me, straight to the afterlife to find your annoying ass.”

Woozi smiled, gliding over to Mingyu so his face was level with his, “you’ve got a deal.”

 

The next morning Mingyu woke up to a quiet apartment, more quiet than it had ever been since he moved in, and he knew Woozi was gone. He sighed, pushing back tears that felt too stupid to spill out of his tired eyes. He knew he had to go eventually, he wanted him to, but that didn’t make it any easier for him.

He walked into his living room, silently hoping Woozi would be sitting there, waiting for him to come turn the TV on to some cheesy drama. He wasn’t surprised when he saw that he wasn’t, but he was surprised to see a pile of his stuff scattered unceremoniously on his couch. All the things that had gone missing months ago, taking up the space that belonged to Woozi now. A part of him would’ve given all of it up again to have his stupid ghost sitting there instead.

He walked over to the pile gingerly, touching his things as if they no longer belonged to him, and his tears began to fall against his will.

“This really sucks,” he sobbed, wiping at his face furiously, “you just had to be dead, didn’t you? Had to annoy me one last time.”

A paper fluttered against his barefoot, catching his attention and momentarily distracting him from his personal pity party. He leaned down, picking up a paper airplane that he had never seen before. He frowned, opening it up to look at the messy words scribbled inside.

“Writing hard for ghost. Don’t forget our promise. Love you. W.”

Mingyu sniffled, closing his eyes and holding the paper close to his body. Maybe being haunted wasn’t always a bad thing


	2. Epilogue - Loose Ends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> surprise bitch, bet you'd thought you'd seen the last of me :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is something i've always planned on doing, but never really knew how to go about it. if you read any of my other work, or follow me on twitter, you know i'm pretty much allergic to angst ESPECIALLY sad endings. i always wanted to give them the happy ending they deserve, because i think everyone deserves that.   
> i wasn't really sure what direction i wanted to go with this, i thought about making it just a silly ghost adventure oneshot but it felt... not Right. so this is what i came up with and i hope it's satisfactory to everyone who enjoyed the ghost in apt 217!!  
> anyways, this is dedicated to my best friend denna (@draculiniseo/@hootyhoon) for her birthday! she's a DIRTY JIGYUIST and also one of my biggest supporters when it comes to my writing. hope you like this smelly :) 
> 
> as always, im on twt @pumkwan/@sipkwan <3

Mingyu is floating.

Or maybe he’s flying, he can’t be sure. He just knows he’s weightless and his body is warm, like he’s being cocooned by the softest blanket ever. 

He tries to open his eyes, but he isn’t quite sure he even has them anymore. For whatever reason, this doesn’t bother him. He feels at peace, like nothing could ever go wrong, even if he doesn’t have eyes. 

He can’t speak either, but that’s okay. He doesn’t need to, he doesn’t think. 

He lets himself float. That’s all he can do. 

 

“Mingyu, wake up, it’s time to wake up now,” the voice is oddly familiar as it rings in his ears, and he has those now. He has eyes too, so he opens them. 

He’s greeted by a blank canvas, that’s the only way he can really describe it. Everything is crystal clear wherever he is, his bones that used to ache feel limitless, and he can tell without even looking in a mirror that his skin has regained its elasticity. He’s young again, in his early 20s maybe. 

“Where am I?” he asks, and he isn’t too concerned, more so just curious. 

“You’re almost home,” the voice says again, “you’re wherever you want to be. Just say the words, and you’ll be home.” 

Mingyu doesn’t know, would never be able to explain it, but the next words that fall out of his mouth are, “with you.” 

He’s floating again, and everything is just a little bit warmer. 

 

This time when he opens his eyes, Jihoon is standing above him.

“Idiot,” he sighs, and reaches out a hand. 

Mingyu just stares at him, and suddenly it clicks in his head -- he’s dead. 

“Oh,” he lets out, and he isn’t sure if he’s supposed to be sad. He’s  _ not  _ sad, so that’s probably a good sign. 

“The memories will come back soon,” Jihoon explains, and his smile is as soft and warm as Mingyu remembers. He still holds himself in a way that conveys a nonchalant attitude but Mingyu can feel how weighty this moment is, can feel how important it is to both of them. 

“You waited for me?” Mingyu asks quietly, cocking his head and feeling the smile grow on his face, “after all this time, you waited for me? To meet me here?” 

Jihoon snorts, “I didn’t do any waiting, time passes by differently here. For me, it’s only been a few days since I last saw you,” his smile dampens a bit, “but  _ you  _ waited for  _ me _ . Why did you do that? You grew old alone.” 

“I was never alone,” Mingyu shakes his head, his smile fond and soft, “I was surrounded by people I loved. I dated, seriously and not so seriously, but I never found the one. I think that’s because  _ the one _ was already waiting for me on the other side.” 

“That’s cheesy,” Jihoon laughs, but his smile is wide and bright, he leans in a bit, and Mingyu thinks they might kiss, if they can even do that. He closes his eyes and he waits, but instead feels a cold finger gently boop his nose. 

“That mole is really cute,” Jihoon sighs as Mingyu looks at him with wide eyes, “I’ve been waiting a lifetime to do that.” 

Mingyu cups his cheek, and giggles a bit because Jihoon feels alive and whole, despite them being dead and what not. He brings his face down until it’s level with his own, and finally kisses him. 

“And I’ve been waiting a lifetime to do  _ that.”  _

Jihoon smiles, and Mingyu appreciates how warm his cheeks feel as they flush beneath his palms. It dawns on him that this is real, finally tangibile. The one thing he’d been missing all his life he’s finally found again in the afterlife. 

“Are you ready now?” Jihoon asks quietly.

“For what?” 

“The rest of eternity, of course.”

Mingyu smiles, nods, and takes Jihoon’s hand. 

Somewhere, a paper plane takes flight and never lands. 


End file.
